Defence duo call for spending hike

Airbus and Babcock urge ministers to boost Britain’s Armed Forces

BRITAIN’S top defence firms have joined calls for the UK to spend more on its Armed Forces.

In an unusual intervention, the UK boss of Airbus, which employs 12,000 staff in the UK, said the invasion of Ukraine had shown the sector can no longer be seen as a ‘nice-to-have’. The world’s biggest plane maker provides vital Army kit such as helicopters.

Ben Bridge told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The imperative for the UK to improve spending on defence and nurture its sovereign defence capabilities is not merely a vanity project. It is the minimum requirement at this time to ensure we comprehensively pre-empt the rapidly evolving nature of warfare and ensure Nato remains unified against any potential threat.’

David Lockwood, head of Babcock International, which provides training and equipment to the Armed Forces and is the second biggest contractor in the sector behind BAE Systems, said the war in Ukraine had ‘fundamentally changed assumptions about the risks we face’.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has repeatedly called for defence spending to be raised from 2.2 per cent to at least 2.5 per cent of national income.

The Daily Mail has launched a campaign for an immediate cash boost to the Armed Forces so Britain can deter further aggression by Vladimir Putin and counter growing global threats.

The campaign has been backed by four former defence secretaries – Sir Michael Fallon, Sir Gavin Williamson, Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Lord Hammond.

An increase in spending would trickle down into Britain’s worldclass defence sector, which employs almost 150,000 people.

But a House of Commons public accounts committee report has found a funding gap of up to £29billion over the next decade, which MPs say will lead to vital equipment plans being axed.

Shapps has warned that the UK has moved from a ‘post-war world to a pre-war world’ and criticised the Chancellor for not increasing support in the Budget. Charles Woodburn, head of BAE Systems, said: ‘Devastating conflicts around the world demonstrate that the peace dividend era is well and truly over.’

The Ministry of Defence says the UK is spending record sums on defence, including an extra £24 billion between 2020 and 2025, with the military deployed on ‘every single’ Nato mission, supporting Ukraine and tackling Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.